Paralysis at AFC Leopards shows sorry state of local football

Current leadership wrangles in Kenya’s oldest football club, AFC Leopards, offer a case study on how history never informs sports policy.

The club, despite its rich past, finds itself at a crossroads, again, with two groups serving divergent political interests threatening to disintegrate the former soccer giants. This is despite the fact the club is faced with congested calendar that includes a continental assignment in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) competition.

When the club was relegated from the premier league to nationwide league three years ago, its ardent supporters were made to live with the embarrassment of a king stripped naked in public.

Few of them would ever have contemplated such a big club with one of largest following on the continent would ever play in a lower division. Then as now, the problem was bickering that had all the ingredients of political interests. Politicians from Western Province found a ready ladder to enhance their careers, with resounding successes.

Supporters of the club recall with (misplaced) nostalgia the heyday of AFC Leopards in the hands of former Butere MP Martin Shikuku and former Sabatia MP Moses Mudavadi – the father of Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, who succeeded him as patron of the club. Webuye MP Alfred Sambu and Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo shot to political prominence for associating with the club.

Social pillar

The paralysis at Leopards demonstrates the sorry state of sports. It serves parochial interests rather than being a social pillar. It is the complete opposite of what is happening in sports elsewhere in the world – a thriving industry awash with money. Footballers in lucrative leagues such English Premier League and Spanish La Liga earn higher perks than the indiscreetly greedy African presidents.

The impasse at AFC Leopards is not about, and limited, to football mismanagement. Athletics, cricket, hockey and tennis have been through this untidy cleavage. Only rugby is on the rise and inevitably, has been attracting lucrative sponsorships.

Seek leadership

We shall dwell on soccer, though, for the simple reason that it is a sport played by gentlemen, but watched, nay, led by thugs! What does one make of the dispute over Kenya Football Federation and Football Kenya Limited? None of the parties has good credentials enough to seek leadership.

Sports managers, besides politicians, are some of the most brazen breed of petty thieves. Let us hope this buck does not settle at Leopards.

At AFC Leopards, it is not lost to fans that most of the officials fighting over positions did not watch a single premier league match last season. It defeats reason, therefore, that a gang of ‘masqueraders’ can stake a claim on sports organisation they have no interest in serving – besides their own narrow and selfish interests.

The casualties in this case are players whose careers are put on the line as they are forced to walk the narrow and bumpy paths as they pander to the whims of club leadership. A community club such as Shabana FC is on the verge of collapse because of bigotry. Re-Union FC, famous for their proverbial nine lives, is in a shambles, thanks to inept leadership and petty politics.

Fulltime employment

Last year saw Gor Mahia humiliated — shipping eight goals — by Rwandese military side APR FC. Cause? Bickering!

It behoves club football officials to thinking of making football a fulltime employment. Other than managers, the most we hear of among English football club officials is when they are declaring profits – occasionally losses.

Otherwise the faces of these clubs are the coaches — or managers as they are called. Leopards’ campaign in the continental soccer like Gor’s last year is jinxed. We can only wait to confirm these when the club takes on Banks FC of Ethiopia on February 13. Thereafter the story will always take that familiar line – sabotage from whatever quarters.